On August 12th, JC Dance Co. was featured at Robson Square. Joel and I did an Introductory Waltz lesson at the beginning of the evening, and then we had our students perform in the 9 & 10 o’clock shows. It was a great night (even though I was sick ), as I always enjoy performing in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd!

Yes, this blog comes a little late, but I’ve been sick for the past week and a half, and am only starting to get back to normal now. I actually hardly ever get sick, and even when I do, it’s gone pretty quick. But I think this time, with Samantha sick, (which is where I caught the bug from), the whole thing was compounded and it took forever to get better. I’m just glad that I survived the evening, as I was so afraid that I would end up having a coughing fit on the floor or that my head would explode!

Photo taken by Raymond Chou

For those of you who were not there, or who were there and just weren’t listening… Our goal for the evening was to entertain and educate everyone about the different facets of ballroom dancing in today’s world. We had group show dances performed by the JC Dance Co. Performance Team, which focuses more on the fun, showy, performance aspect of dancing, including lifts and tricks. And on the other side of things, we had demonstrations by our competitive students, ranging from Silver all the way up to the Championship level. This display of competitive DanceSport showed the different types of steps and different types of costumes allowed in the highly regulated world of DanceSport.

We received great feedback from everyone about the various shows, but the one that seemed to stand out was our Waltz solo. Joel and I performed a Waltz that started at the beginner social level (doing the good ol’ box step), gradually evolving through Newcomer, all the way up to Open level choreography, then finishing back again with a basic beginner Waltz. To make the show more transparent, Joel wore a wireless microphone to narrate what we were doing throughout the performance. He was a little afraid that the audience would hear some heavy breathing on the mic, but it turned out just fine!

For the Waltz, our main goal was to demonstrate the different levels and therefore styles of dance, but in the end, to show how they are all interrelated. What people sometimes lose sight of is that the true essence of dance can be equally experienced in the most basic box step with a social hold, or in more complicated figures in a competitive frame. Remember: The true essence of ballroom dancing is the interaction between man and woman. It can go from simple to complex, but the truth of it all comes back to the most basic fundamentals… being together and communicating through touch… which is what I believe is the most beautiful thing about ballroom dancing.

We were very pleased with how much the dance seemed to resonate with everyone. We received an email from a veteran dancer, who said that “after regularly attending Robson Square for the past 15 years, I can say with some authority, that your beginner-to-open-and-back-to-beginner Waltz was the MOST INFORMATIVE and the MOST ENTERTAINING ballroom dance demonstration I have ever seen”. We also got very emotional comments from people, even from those who we hadn’t met before, saying that we had put on “an inspiring performance, full of grace, elegance and joy”.

Honestly, it sounds kind of corny, but it is really heart-warming to know that we have touched the lives of so many people through our passion for dance. It’s always a goal of ours, but you never really know if it actually comes true, until someone comes out and says it to you… and for those comments, we are extremely grateful!

Thank you to everyone who attended Robson Square that night. We were told that it had the highest attendance of the summer thus far, and we were very grateful to see old students, friends and colleagues cheering us on.